So if you’ve been following my blog for a while, or if you’ve read my book – you may have wondered what my heart actually looks like.  Well, your wait is over!

You can get a look at my heart at the same time as you are checking out my new website called Choose The Life You Want.  The site doesn’t “officially” launch until January 1, 2010, but you can have a sneek-peek right now!

Here’s the link!  While you’re over there, you might as well subscribe!  Then come back here and tell me what you think!

Isn’t it hard to believe that 2009 is rapidly drawing to a close?  December 1st already!

2009 has been a year of challenges for me.  Actually, the last two years have been challenging for me.  This is why I haven’t been very active in blogging or podcasting. To those of you who used to look forward to my regular messages – I’m sorry that I’ve been sporadic in my communications.   The good news is that I’ve learned a lot of lessons during these times.  Lessons about myself and lessons about life.  And beginning January 1st (just one month from today) I’m going to start sharing those lessons with you.

• If you found value in The Power of Mortality™, then I’m sure you’re going to love what’s next!
• If you enjoyed my first book “What’s Your Expiry Date?”, then I know you’re going to love my next book!

A new blog, a new website, a new podcast, a new book … all coming in the new year!

What’s next is the evolution of the message that started with The Power of Mortality™.  That evolution is the journey that I’ve been on for the past 24+ months.  And let me tell you… it’s quite a ride and the journey is just beginning!

I can’t wait to share it with you!  Are you up for it?

“I was stuck in this job, feeling like I was just on a treadmill of having to earn enough money so that I could afford to buy the house that was near enough to my job. It was just like this crazy cycle. On Sunday nights, me and my husband would be just grumpy and unhappy about having to go back to work. And I’d think, you know, we don’t have to do this. … I felt like I wasn’t being true to myself.”

Could that quote be from you?

It’s actually from a woman named Roz Savage who decided that she’d had enough of the “perfect life” – husband, corporate career, big house, little red sports car.  She decided to give it all up and row solo across the Atlantic.

While I don’t share her vision of rowing single-handedly across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a 23-foot carbon-hulled rowboat – I absolutely LOVE her resolve in deciding to choose the life she wanted.

And how did she come to this life-changing conclusion?  She wrote two obituaries for herself. (A woman after my own heart!)  The first obituary was based on a life that continued along the path of the “perfect life”.  The second was based on a life of following her dreams.

While I haven’t read her book yet – I encourage you to read this interview that Roz did with the Globe & Mail newspaper: “Goodbye husband and career, hello high seas”

This article came to my attention via a Twitter post from my friend Bill Star. Bill is the CEO of My Life List™ which is a fantastic, free online community dedicated to helping each of us to design a “life list” that really matters.

So,  back to my original question: “Could the quote at the top be from you?”  Do you feel like you aren’t being true to yourself? Here’s how to get started on choosing the life you want:

1. Download and sign my free Mortality Manifesto Pledge.

2. Like Roz, write your own obituaries. One for the life that continues with the status quo and one for the life you would love to be living.

3. Sign up with My Life List™ and start creating and designing your new life step by step. There’s a wonderful community there to support you so you won’t feel like you’re alone on the Atlantic. (Unless that’s what you want to do!  In that case – talk to Roz!)

4. Come back here and share what amazing things you’re up to!

CONNECTING

Roz Savage – Twitter: @rozsavage Blog: http://rozsavage.com/blog/

Bill Star – Twitter: @mylifelist Blog: http://mylifelistceo.blogspot.com/

I’ve decided to finally start using video to help spread the message of the Power of Mortality™.  Here is the first video in the series.  It’s a short (41 second) video called “Enough Time?”

And I need your help!

- Please pass this video on to family and friends!

- Post it on your Facebook or MySpace pages!

- Share it via your own blogs!

- Spread the news through Twitter!

- Vote for it on StumbleUpon, Digg, and any other social bookmarking utility!

Let’s see how many people we can get to Take The Pledge!

Thanks!

As a Certified Master Coach I have a certain level of expertise when it comes to understanding and modifying human behavior patterns.  For the most part, the limitations and roadblocks that people encounter in achieving their goals and objectives are self-imposed.  The role of a great coach is to help the client get our of their own way so that they can easily and naturally do the things they really want to do.  We do this by having the client look carefully at the belief systems from which they operate on a daily basis. And the best way to get to the core of those beliefs is to have the client listen carefully to their own self-talk.

As you may know, I have recently made a choice to increase my fitness level and decrease my body mass and body fat percentage.    I am using all of my skills and expertise to ensure that this choice becomes a reality for me in a fast and efficient manner.

This week, (the first week of my program) I paid very close attention the self-talk that was coming up around my lifestyle choices.  I found that I was really embracing the exercise components of my plan, but I was having some difficulty around food choices.  I was eating well, but not consistently.  Towards the end of the week, I found myself making some “bad” choices when it came to snacks.  As I tuned in to the self-talk around these choices, here is what I heard:

“Yummm! I’m going to have some of this – just as a treat.”

“That’s a bad idea and it’s out of line with my goals.”

“Yeah, I only live once. Do I want to live a spartan lifestyle, or do I want to enjoy myself? I deserve this little treat.”

WOW!  Those are a lot of unconscious beliefs at work there!  Let’s take a look:

• First, you can see that my Power of Mortality™ mindset is working against me with the excuse that I deserve a treat because I only live once and I could die at any moment.  That’s an absolutely silly excuse now that I’m aware of it!
• Second, I am equating sticking to my plan as living a “spartan lifestyle”.  How likely am I to stick with something like that?
• Third, I am further equating this to a lack of enjoyment and self-deprivation. I’ve even gone so far as to make it an either/or situation – “spartan lifestyle” or “enjoy myself”.  Hmmmmm.. no wonder I’ve struggled with this in the past.

I recently wrote about the fact that nothing has any meaning except for the meaning we give it. I said: “Once we realize that we have complete control over the meanings we assign to things, we gain a tremendous amount of power.”  Here’s how I shifted my meaning in this situation.

I zeroed in on my phrase “Do I want to live a spartan lifestyle, or do I want to enjoy myself?”.  As I heard the words “spartan lifestyle” I was able to instantly shift the meaning. When I heard the word “spartan”, I thought of the movie “300” which was an incredibly violent and gory movie full of guys with fantastic abdominal muscles. (I choose to believe that these were computer generated abs courtesy of Pixar Studios!)

That one shift has made all the difference!  Now, when I hear my self-talk whining about not being able to eat something, and I hear “do I want to live a spartan lifestyle?” I think of those guys and their abs and I answer: “Hell yes,  I want to live a lifestyle like that!” (The great abs part of the lifestyle – not the death, violence and gore part.)

Then I visualize the negative and limiting self-talk as the messenger in the movie who is standing at the edge of the well and I kick him backwards into the abyss!

I imagine myself as the main character in the movie, standing there with rippling abs and armed with a celery stick, ready to take on thousands of invading chocolate bars or cookies! This a completely silly and ridiculous way of thinking and that’s precicely why it works for me. I find it fun and easy to do!

And more importantly, it breaks the pattern in my head about what my healthy choices mean (lack of enjoyment and self-depravation) and helps install new, supportive meanings and beliefs.

So this week, I encourage you to consciously tune in to your own self-talk and be on the lookout for limiting beliefs that might be working against your goals and objectives. If you need help… I’ll be over here eating celery and doing situps!

“Choice” is my new mantra.  I have written a number of articles on the subject – some on this blog (here and here) and one on a blog called The Positive Imperative. And it’s the central subject of one of the books I’m writing (the follow up to What’s Your Expiry Date?) which will be released later this year.

I just finished writing a blog entry called “Oprah’s Big Mistake“.  In the article, which revolves around Oprah Winfrey’s weight gain, I offered the following words of advice: “It’s all a choice.” (Please read the article before you unleash your pro-Oprah fury on me!)

And I truly believe that!  I believe that we need to choose the life we want to live. I believe that the path to the life you want comes from choices that you make moment to moment, day to day. And I believe that we have to start making those choices right now.

So I’ve decided to put this theory to the test!

Right now, I weigh more than I’d like to.  Since I’m a tall person with a big frame, I carry my weight well and I don’t really consider it an issue.  But deep down, I would like to be leaner and more fit.  If I’m really honest with myself, I will admit that if I were truly choosing the life I want, I wouldn’t choose to weigh this much.

So I’m going to put my skills to the test.

• I’m a Certified Master Coach and I empower people to achieve incredible results.
• I’m a powerful motivational speaker and author and I specialize in personal and corporate transformation.
• And most importantly, I know the power of taking responsibility for your own life and the power of making a choice to pilot your own life.

So… here we go.

Today, January 18th 2009, I weigh 218.5 lbs and have a body fat percentage of 26%

I am making the choice to get myself down to 195 lbs and 17% body fat.

I’m not putting a timeline on this, I’m just going to be consistent with my choices and let it take as long as it takes.  I’m in no hurry.

My plan? I plan to use all of the different approaches with which I’ve had some success in the past.

• Choosing alkalizing foods
• Proper hydration
• Walking
• Push-ups (I’m using the hundredpushups.com program)
• Sit-ups (I’m using the twohundredsitups.com program)
• AND YOU!  I’m going to be reporting on my progress via Twitter and Facebook, so if you would like to see how I’m doing and offer encouragement – then please follow me on Twitter or become my friend on Facebook.

One of the reasons that I can speak so confidently about the Power of Mortality™ is that I live it on a daily basis.  I want to bring this same resolve to the topic of choosing the life you want. Making a choice is the first step. Acting on it is where things really start to happen!